Trending: How our population is shifting

Published 11:36 pm, Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Jose Minchala, 21, of Danbury, came to the United States from Ecuador as a small child.
He spends much of his free time at the Ecuadorean restaurant, El Milenio, on North Street in Danbury, Conn. where he is photographed, Wednesday, March 20, 2013.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Lorena Viveros, 36, left, and Jose Minchala, 21, chat together at El Milenio, an Ecuadorean restaurant on North Street, in Danbury, Conn., Wednesday, March 20, 2013. Viveros is from Mexico and Michala is from Ecuador.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Jose Minchala, 21, of Danbury, came to the United States from Ecuador as a small child.
He spends much of his free time at the Ecuadorean restaurant, El Milenio on North Street in Danbury, Conn. where he is photographed, Wednesday, March 20, 2013.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Maya Aragon moved to Stamford from her home in Guatemala a decade ago when she was 11 years old. Back then, the city's Guatemalan population didn't have a large presence, and she sometimes felt like she was the only one from her native land as she made her way through middle and high school.

She doesn't feel so alone any more.

"When I first entered, there weren't many kids from Guatemala," Aragon said. "But then at the end of high school, there started being a lot of students from Guatemala."

In the few years since she graduated, Aragon has seen the population increase even more. Working at Guatelinda Express Travel on Stamford's West Main Street, she spends her days helping customers ship packages, money and other items back to family members and friends in their native countries. Mostly, she sees people sending items to Guatemala, she said.

"The population here is growing very quickly, especially on the West Side and the South End," Aragon said.

Between 2009 and 2011, the number of Stamford residents who claim Guatemalan ancestry increased 22 percent, growing by 1,617 people.

Fairfield County's population has grown more quickly than any other corner of Connecticut since the 2010 census was issued, a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows. But it's not due to births; rather, the migration of residents from foreign countries has sped up growth, even as 3,229 former residents have moved out.

The area has seen steady growth among several populations in the last few years, but four nationalities have increased their presence by large margins: Guatemalan, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran and Ecuadorian.

Demographers predict that by 2050 fewer than half of the nation's residents will be white, as the percentages of Hispanic, black and Asian residents increase.

Fairfield County as a whole is on par with the rest of the nation in the "browning of America." According to the Pew Research Center, 17 percent of the nation's residents identify themselves as Hispanic, slightly more than the 16.5 percent of Fairfield County residents. But the area's urban centers are ahead of the curve.

"We've done population projections and looked at the role of immigration, and we're saying most of the growth in the nation's population through 2050 will be through either immigrants or their children or grandchildren," said D'Vera Cohn, a writer for Pew.

In Bridgeport, 36.7 percent of residents identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino, as do 25.1 percent of residents in Danbury, 24.4 percent in Stamford and 20.2 percent in Norwalk, according to a 2011 American Community Survey Five-Year Estimate produced by the Census Bureau.

From 2009 to 2011, the Puerto Rican population increased in southwestern Connecticut by 8,542 people, including 3,159 in Bridgeport alone.

"I have noticed that the population is getting bigger. There are a lot of Puerto Ricans in this city, and the population is getting bigger still every year," said Efrain Silva, 62, owner of El Morivivi, a Puerto Rican restaurant on Pembroke Street in Bridgeport.

Silva, who grew up in San Juan, first came to Bridgeport three decades ago to live with his family after serving in the U.S. Army. He opened his restaurant about 25 years ago and lived on the second floor above the business for several years, raising his family before moving to Stratford several years ago. While only family ties brought him to Bridgeport, he said he is thankful he chose the city as a place to call home.

"I love Bridgeport. Everything that I have, I owe to Bridgeport and God, because I started with zero before I started this place," he said. "This place is where I found opportunity."

Others discovered opportunity in the area as well.

Jose Minchala, 21, moved to Danbury from Ecuador when he was 3 years old because his parents were searching for a place perfect to raise a family.

"It's a peaceful area here, with towns like Newtown, where everything is wide open," he said Wednesday afternoon as he leaned against a pool table in at El Milenio, an Ecuadorian restaurant and bar on North Street in Danbury. "Back in Ecuador, you have houses everywhere. Here it's land, just land, and that's what he liked."

When he was growing up, the Ecuadorian population in Danbury was pretty small, he said. Back then, his father would host parties at their house for members of the small community to get together. These days it's much more spread out, Minchala said.

From 2009 to 2011 alone, the Ecuadorian population in Danbury grew 22 percent, to 7,247 residents.

"My dad, he wanted more from life. He came here because it seemed more peaceful and there were more opportunities, you know. I think that's what a lot of people are looking for," he said.

Minchala, Silva, Aragon and others are new ingredients in the melting pot of southwestern Connecticut, where people come to begin their life anew, searching for the American dream, and change the flavor of the nation along the way.

"You know, we just want to have a better future. That's why we're coming here: It's the land of opportunity," Aragon said last week. "People come for that -- for a future for them and their family. It's the same old story."